Izumi Ito
Izumi Itō, (伊藤泉, Itō Izumi) is a female ninja from Kumogakure – the village hidden in the clouds. Known as the "Kunoichi of the Sand" by those that are aware of her services, Izumi is a bit of a walking paradox at the core thanks to her restrictive personality and her contradicting battling philosophies in comparison to other ninja around her. The girl is both an established member of the elite ANBU while simultaneously a world class medical ninja, quite possibly the most oxymoronic a single shinobi could essentially ever be. She both battles mortality as she staves off death in the form of battle wounds that betide from combat, while also embarking on missions so secretive and so treacherous that one must cleanse themselves of their name and identity before even being able to accept in the first place. Appearance At only five feet and four inches, Izumi is hardly the most intimidating ninja. When you can’t rely on brute strength or underhanded chicanery, you learn to survive with flexibility and grace; traits that have bestowed onto and honed by Izumi. She flits about with a lithe mobility, dancing through conversations and fluttering her way through battles without respite. Izumi despises head on contact with hostility – she prefers forced diplomacy with well timed genjutsu or debauchery through the use of clones and illusions that she beckons to her side when needed. Izumi stands out amongst her peers quite heavily, from the top of her head to the shaking ground she walks on. Even her hair is a radical difference from tradition, a style that sports a closely shaved headhttp://images.beautyworldnews.com/data/images/full/20862/natalie-dormer.jpg on the left side, with the top and the right side of her head being adorned by long thin flowing locks in a jet black tone that trail loosely down to her shoulder. Izumi wears the bare minimum of clothing whenever possible. When not on mission, Izumi resorts to a two-pieced duo consisting of one part cloth bound to her miniature chest that extends to up onto her shoulders and connects behind her neck, and then something of a half vest – a long, heavy strip of cloth slung over her left shoulder with three straps that clasp to the front of the piece with buckles, a longer singular one that straps over her right shoulder, and two smaller straps that sling to her hip on the same side. The small bra like wrapping is bright white in color while the sash like piece is a shade of stormy grey with flecks of deep crimson mottled throughout. However, when needed, Izumi will replace the larger piece of her outfit with an old, out of date style of flak jacket, an article that is slate grey in color, opens vertically through three evenly spaced metal clasps on the right side, padded shoulders that attach with steel buttons, and a scrunched up collar around the neck. Instead of wearing gloves like typical shinobi tend to, Izumi wraps bandages around her hands – an adhesive, medical kind, infused with just a moderate amount of chakra so that they may never break, snag, or tear during activities such as training and brandishing weapons. The girl also keeps some of the bandages bound to her ankles and heels underneath her sandals, a technique that allows her to guide her focus and stability that she may never lose balance when necessary. She wears skin tight coal colored shorts that end just an inch below the knee cap, each pant sleeve adorned by a circle of silver near the very bottom. The shorts themselves house a myriad of different pockets and pouches, all of which are themselves also lined with a silver sheen. Like all shinobi, Izumi wears open-toed sandals. Hers are uniquehttp://s2.thisnext.com/media/largest_dimension/BBE723C1.jpg, being composed of flat pads and a ribbon like cloth that tie to her legs and end in sort of a bow by the top of her ankles. Mask Like all other members of her corps, Izumi wears a mask over her face to conceal her identity at all times when corroborating with her Kage during an ANBU mission. Hers is bright white porcelain, with a raised face and pointed ears. It has a small frown in the shape of an upside-down "V" where the mouth would be and squinted diagonal slits for eyes. Lastly, it has vibrant blue filling the inside of its ears and dotting the nose, and two horizontal stripes, purple in color, lining the middle of the mask both of which go across the top and the bottom of the eyes, only about an inch apart from each other. Personality Izumi is quiet and brooding, speaking and acting only when needing to. Although the girl may come off as cold or aloof at first, she is noted for genuinely working well with all teammates to some degree. Izumi is also fiercely dedicated almost to a fault, sometimes to the point where she is willing to go desperately out of her way to prove herself right or accomplish her task. Aside from this, however, Izumi is typically very calm and is praised for being so even during extreme moments of tension such as the height of combat or the middle of interrogations. Izumi's near unbreakable concentration make her exceptional at channeling her jutsu and focusing her chakra. As part of the elite ANBU, Izumi is naturally expected to maintain her composure at all times especially once she had joined the medical-nin as well. Because of her innate stoic and almost maternal presence Izumi has no trouble with giving orders and directing personnel, a trait that helped her to be inducted in the corps to begin with. A shortcoming of the girl is her sometimes lack of exerting force on others when necessary. Typically Izumi has no qualms with reprimanding her teammates - much to their chagrin - but finds she constantly has to remember not to hold back in battle. Often times Izumi forgets she fights hardened criminals for a living and reminds herself letting her guard down or underestimating her opponent even once can spell death for her or her teammates. Fighting Style Despite being a member of black ops, or perhaps because of, Izumi despises head-on combat and chooses never to fight directly. She instead prefers to incapacitate her opponents or avoid disputes all together. When forced to fight Izumi will utilize a mixture of genjutsu, debilitation, and pure deception to neutralize her opponent. Although she wields a sword like all ANBU members typically do, Izumi excels at hand-to-hand contact augmented with quick reflexes and fast jutsu to overwhelm her opponents. Lightning Release techniques combined with precise chakra control gives her a quasi unique style of fighting; by redirecting the flow of chakra to specific parts of her body in controlled doses, Izumi can exert a sudden burst of power to the target similar to the one of a kind method of fighting employed by the Hyuga Clan -- if willing to do so, she can also cut off her opponent's chakra flow momentarily if she hits her mark. When not imbuing her taijutsu with her own chakra, Izumi uses crippling lightning based abilities to numb her opponents, rendering them unable to fight. When forced to draw her sword Izumi will typically fall back on basic genjutsu and other simple techniques. Her style of fighting evolves from combative and debilitating and instead focuses on ending the battle either by retreating or by force. When fighting with her sword, Izumi typically starts a fight with her trademark Genjutsu: Cloud technique, in which Izumi conjures a clone of herself to charge the target and explode into an obscuring cloud. This not only attempts to psych the opponent out but also gives Izumi a tactical advantage on the battle field, removing the target's vision while also leaving behind a sizable cloud that can then be used in offensive attacks. Along with this, Izumi also enjoys using the clone and shadow clone techniques to overwhelm her opponents. Other jutsu she uses include Temporary Paralysis Technique, and her own variation of the Body Flicker Technique jutsu. Anatomical Knowledge in Combat Thanks to her time as a medical-nin, Izumi has gathered a wealthy amount of knowledge about the human body. Possibly one of her greatest aspects in combat is her developing ability to achieve such feats as knowing exactly where to hit her opponent's body as well as how hard to strike or how deep to cut. This allows Izumi a better chance to incapacitate her enemy either to disengage from combat, to bring a suspect in for interrogation, etc. Izumi's training as a medic has also broadened her wisdom of the body's 361 different chakra points. She puts this knowledge to use in fights in order to enfeeble her targets. Fighting Philosophy Izumi rarely fights with the intent to kill, a trait lacking in almost any everyday shinobi. When it comes to practicing medicine, Izumi prefers homemade concoctions and foraging for her own materials. She believes using jutsu to directly heal a person is the easy way out and will never increases her prowess as a medic to its fullest potential. To the girl, making her own medicine, finding out which reagents to use, and learning how to apply them correctly is the only way to broaden her knowledge as a medical-nin and a shinobi as a whole. Equipment & Weaponry Two things reign supreme in Izumi's world; her backpack, and her sword. Neither ever leave her side even at home and especially when out of the house. Abilities Although genjutsu may be Izumi's greatest strength in terms of jutsu techniques, she maintains a healthy mixture of genjutsu, taijutsu, and ninjutsu at her disposal. Perhaps most notable about Izumi is how often she weaves different forms of jutsu into her fighting style, combining ninjutsu, taijutsu, and genjutsu in nearly every attack she makes. Ninjutsu Clone techniques are, by far, Izumi's most used ninjutsu. Be it tangible or not, Izumi uses the clones to distract and overwhelm her opponent, along with setting up various combos by herself. Notably, Izumi's signature Genjutsu: Cloud is itself a clone technique and is often used in conjunction with other techniques and tactics. Cloud Clone Technique is another clone based jutsu Izumi utilizes. Among Izumi's favorite offensive techniques include lightning based abilities such as Lightning Release: Surge of Lightning and Lightning Release: Lightning Cloud to fight her opponents. Aside from these few abilities, Izumi's other ninjutsu consist of augmenting her abilities and equipment in various different ways. Her Vibrating Steel, Thunder Step, and Fists of Lightning techniques are just a few examples of this. If in need to bombard a large area with deadly force, Izumi has developed a relatively minor technique - Fire Release: Brooding Storm Cloud - to summon thunderclouds into the sky, which can then be made into bolts of lightning to strike opponents. Taijutsu Izumi practices a unique type of taijutsu known as the Rolling Thunder Style. Although this is technically, for all intents and purposes, a style of nintaijutsu, Izumi herself only considers it to be taijutsu and utilizes it as such. Because of her small size, natural mobility, and quick reflexes, the girl focuses on and tends to mainly practice techniques that are not about head-on combat and obliterating opponents. Instead, Izumi's taijutsu revolves around countering, disarming, and incapacitating her targets. In her Hand-Over-Wrist technique, for example, Izumi repels an incoming attack by pushing away the attacker's hand with an open palm, grabs their wrist with her free hand, and twists their arm in an attempt to disarm them. A more fatal version of technique is known as Hand-Over-Heart where Izumi immediately retaliates. Genjutsu List of Jutsu *Cloud Clone Technique* *Clone Technique *Fists of Lightning* *Genjutsu: Cloud* *Hand-Over-Wrist* *Lightning Release: Lightning Cloud* *Lightning Release: Surge of Lightning* *Rolling Thunder* *Shadow Clone Technique *Thunder Step* *Vibrating Steel* Techniques marked with a * denote an original Izumi jutsu. Conception & Design Izumi's creation came from a flood of simple ideas - a strong minded and independent female warrior; a shinobi that practiced lightning based techniques; a ninja who wielded a brilliant mix of all forms of jutsu and had her own unique style of fighting; but above all, a character mature in age and rich in life who felt alive with real quirks, ambitions, emotions, and stories. A character deeply rooted into the world from conception, someone who had memories, enemies, and a life of her own. Somebody who had real fears, a less than typical life, a sense of what they wanted to accomplish in the world, a living personality that made them real. Izumi's appearance was also relatively simple. A skinny, pretty brunette that was beautiful not because of her looks but because of her spirit and her strength, her dedication and sense of duty. A girl as soft as water who flowed like a river that could turn into a storm in a split second. In terms of her actual design, I knew two things about Izumi - she always has a backpack, and she always carries her shield underneath it. I wanted her to have a simplistic and practical appearance, without awkward ninja tool pouches or odd bandages here and there. Her design philosophy was to make her as flexible as possible both in a literal and figurative sense. As a member of ANBU, Izumi's outfit was meant to allow her quick movements that would never interfere with movement or combat. Like a stormy day, she can strike with great force at no warning or pass by peacefully at her own leisure. Izumi's actual clothing sounds radically different from most personnel of ANBU but in actuality members from the Kumogakure are mostly lacking from media, thus giving me some creative breathing room in that regard. Like many other shinobi, Izumi wears fishnet covering both her arms and her legs and, also like many others, wears the iconic metal plated gloves worn by higher ranking ninja in the regular forces. Next came the simple sleeveless vest and her equally plain shorts. Her gray flak vest, standard of the ANBU to wear, is actually typical of her village itself. Izumi's unique sandals are something I think are important to her, a short of black sheep in her design. I knew I wanted Izumi to have a slimmed down appearance, devoid of things such as flashy designs and anything else that would make her stand out. Specifically, I wanted her to eschew almost any kind of tool, be it kunai knives, shuriken stars, or anything else. I designed Izumi to be pure, and when it came down to it, she was just a girl with a backpack and a sword who fought with her hands a lot. That's the image I had in my head when I thought of Izumi. Izumi's mask was without a doubt the hardest part of her design to come up with. Like the rest of her, her mask is meant to be beautiful and simple in appearance. Similar to the masks of other members of ANBU it closely resembles some kind of animal - in her case, a cat or a fox, with pointed ears and the semi famous mouth and nose drawn as a single line, such as the mask on the top left in this picture here. Trivia Izumi was originally going to be much more of a weapon specialist, utilizing multiple shuriken and kunai at one time and controlling them through the use of chakra strings, similar to the puppet masters of the series. She would overwhelm her opponents with a flurry of weapons and if her initial barrage didn't work, deceive her target by launching a brand new attack with the same weapons. Trivia *Izumi means "fountain," a testament to her large amounts of chakra. *Her favorite training activities are holding her breath and rock climbing. These are in reference to her home, the Hidden Cloud Village - the former because of the high altitude levels affecting oxygen levels, and the latter because of the scaling mountains that are the village itself. *Her greatest fear is making a mistake that costs the life of a teammate. *Her favorite food is takoyaki with all the fixings on it. *Her breakfasts typically consist of hiyayakko - chilled tofu, personally topped with chopped green onions and soy sauce - miso soup or bowls of steamed rice, and she happily prepares herself a bento box each morning. Izumi's favorite bento box fillers include unagi (eel), onigiri (rice balls wrapped in nori, seaweed), okonomiyaki (savory pancakes), and soba noodles (noodles made from buckwheat). Category:TwoBits